bookley's Profile
Cross-border shopping: the food/drinks you always bring home to Vancouver
Great suggestions! Especially the sour beer and cheese. (I usually pick up some goose eggs from Pike Place Market too.) If you're interested, here's some info about the distiller's fest: http://www.distillersfestival.com/
We're also going to hit the mushroom festival in Yachats on Sunday. (Bonus points if anyone wants to share a good place to forage.)
Cross-border shopping: the food/drinks you always bring home to Vancouver
Headed to the Great American Distillers Festival in Portland later this month (with a few stops en route). Presumably, we'll bring back some local craft spirits, Stumptown coffee, seasonal beers...and hit Trader Joe's. Am curious about what those of you who make regular trips to Washington and Oregon like to bring back to Vancouver. Either local specialties, or just daily staples that are way cheaper in America. Is it better to do our shopping in Oregon or Washington? Thanks for any help!
The Mighty Kingsway
Inspired by Michael Turner's anthology and the "le pen now and again" blog,we're going to hike the Kingsway tomorrow. Would love to hear any suggestions for short stops along the way. Prefer to eat a dozen little unique snacks at different places more than full meals. Thanks for your help!
http://www.lepenquotidien.com/?cat=11
Have You Ever Seen Real Korean Grown Rice For Sale Here?
South China Seas carries some unique varieties of rice. Nor sure about Korean, but might be worth contacting them.
http://www.southchinaseas.ca/Pages/atSCS02-11.html
Medicinal soup
Thanks for the suggestion. A Chinese medicinal soup would be excellent, but I'd also settle for a great bowl of borscht or chicken noodle too. Just something very nourishing.
Medicinal soup
Walking out into a crisp nigh with a tickle in my throat. Looking for a bowl of extremely nourishing soup -- if not something downright medicinal. Where am I headed?
Bo Kong reopening today as Po Kong
Presumably, they'll be selling the same mix of mushroom and faux-meat Buddhist dim sum at 1334 Kingsway (near Clark Street). I have missed their hot and sour soup.
Where do you go for Greek in Vancouver?
I recently had some business at the Greek consulate, and asked the woman helping me if there was a consensus best Greek restaurant. She thought for a quite a while, and eventually decided Apollonia, but didn't really seem convinced, and so proceeded to ask everyone else in the consulate, and even made a couple of phone calls. "I guess it IS Appolonia," she finally conceded, but still seemingly disappointed THAT was the best. I tried it before Christmas. They did a very good skordalia. And a pretty good avgolemeno soup. The prices were good. It wasn't amazing, though. It's disappointing that nobody's really taken on contemporary Greek here. It's the same dozen dishes everywhere you go. In the last few years, Greek chefs in Melbourne have really updated the cuisine.
Sockeye
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/08/25/bc-sockeye-salmon-fraser-river.html#socialcomments
Short of jumping on a trawler this week, how will you partake in this historic salmon run? What's your favourite restaurant to eat it at? Which fishmonger or grocery store to buy it from? Any old family secrets on how to prepare sockeye?
Iftar meals during Ramadan in Vancouver
I realize there's something a little naive about the premise of this question. Am keen to take part in one of the meals eaten after sunset each night during Ramadan. (Would gladly maintain a fast all day in preparation.) Is there such thing as a "proper" Iftar meal? If so, are there restaurants in Vancouver that serve these meals?
Bo Kong, Vancouver - What should I order?
Has anyone been to the restaurant that's opened up in its place? I think it's also vegetarian. Maybe it's a matter of same place, new name?
where to buy birch beer in calgary?
Grizzly Paw Brewery in Canmore might do a birch beer.
On a different note, does anyone know if Clear Creek Distillery's Douglas fir eau-de-vie is available in Calgary?
to all the restaurant's I've loved before....
Yanjing, in that cursed little space by the Roasterie, nourished me through some good times and bad times in my life.
Commercial Drive, Vancouver -- top ten places to Chow?
Thanks peter.v. I always seem to end up with Cruz de Malta or Rosamonte. (In my next lifetime, I hope to come back as a mate label designer.) Didn't notice much difference in the flavours between the two. Have also tried Amanda, which seemed a little dustier and twiggier. Wasn't aware that mate was aged...aged how? I once had a roasted version, which was pretty good -- I think the roaster was in Nelson.
Also: lunch yesterday at Rinconcito. We shared a bland corn tamale and an amazing plate of huevos rancheros. Finished with pupusas, which were a step down from El Bombazo in Calgary. A good meal for the price, though.
Broken Plate Greek Restaurant - Calgary
For far too long, Calgary's Greek restaurants have foisted an unimaginative bastardized western version of what's supposed to be precise, simple nourishing (even creative) Mediterranean cuisine. The menus, soundtracks and smells in these places are virtually interchangeable. I always walk out feeling ripped off.
Crete Souvlaki is a happy exception. Piato (RIP) was another. Calypso's Taverna, which recently opened on Centre Street and 20th Ave N, seems to be off to a terrific start. They've got traditional soups and clean bean dishes. Their tomato sauces taste like tomato. They use fresh herbs. You don't have to fight through those layers of burnt cheese and greasy phyllo pastry to pick out sincere flavours. The appetizer platter for two will feed three. If you're still hungry, try a $5 bowl of whatever soup they have.
The place was empty last time I went in, which is really sad.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/628390
Commercial Drive, Vancouver -- top ten places to Chow?
Great lists. El Sueno has got to be my favourite so far. From the rambunctious kid who seems to run the place on the weekend to the 3 lb avocados -- not to mention the largest selection of yerba mate I’ve ever seen -- I discover something new with every visit. (How DOES one go about about choosing mate, anyway?)
Which of these places would you be most likely to stock up on something like black garlic?
Turning 18 in Calgary - Pubs, steak house?
Can't beat Hop n Brew. The Palomino's begun to hit its stride these days too. (Pretty decent nachos and a MUCH improved local beer list.)
RE Ruth's: I'm probably missing the point, but isn't there something treasonous -- not to mention vaguely unsustainable -- about ordering US beef in AB?
Commercial Drive, Vancouver -- top ten places to Chow?
Any updates on your top 10 lists? I recently moved into the neighbourhood and am (pleasantly) overwhelmed with the Drive's choice. It looks like Bump n Grind has emerged as a serious coffee place in the last year. I've quickly become a sucker for Sweet Cherubim. The beer list at Timbre has been a nice surprise.
Beyond cafes and restaurants, which secrets have you discovered at the grocery stores, co-ops and delis?
Best Pumpkin Pie in Vancouver?
I had a very nice version at Thomas Haas today.
And I salivate every time I walk into Sweet Cherubim and see their fresh pumpkin pies. (Shaped a little like a tagine.)
Kensington/NW good eats
Tandoori Hut in Kensington could do the trick on the reasonably healthy side. Closer to the U, on the less healthy side, Big Ts BBQ does some some delicious mixed platters for a small group. Dirt cheap too. (There's also a Saigon Y2K in the same strip mall.)
vegetarian restaurants in Vancouver
I'll add a vote for Radha. The space has a magical feel. Service is charming (as opposed to that self-absorbed manner you find at Nam and Foundation). The menu's highly inventive and sometimes even well-executed. Plus a pretty smart selection of BC wine. The sum of the experience is to leave feeling nourished. The antidote to that, of course, is a couple of whiskies downstairs at the Brickhouse on your way out. Radha and Brickhouse are two of the most unique experiences in Vancouver.
Less upscale (or even slightly upscale), but equally nourishing veg options: Bo Kong (3068 Main Street) for sweet and sour soup, Rhizome (Main/Broadway) for pay-as-you-feel lentils and Sweet Cherubim (1105 Commercial) for every kind of late afternoon snack. The Foundation for all it annoying tics does offer pretty good bang for the buck.
Kona Beer in Calgary?
This doesn't exactly help, but I remember buying some at a grocery store in Whitefish last year.
New to Calgary...looking for bread and nice groceries
It sounds like you're in Inglewood. If you head all the way down 12th street on the weekend (it turns into 11th after the tracks) you'll find the best fresh market in Calgary. Especially this time of year, when the Hutterites and other local farmers start showing up. A good bricolage of take home dinners as well.
http://crossroadsmarket.ca/
Good Coffee in NW Calgary?
The coffee itself is nowhere near the Artigiano/Kawa/Bumpy tier, but for while-away-the-day neighbourhood coffee house ambiance you're not going to beat Weeds, up the hill at 1903 20th Ave. (And their double espresso functions as a more than acceptable Americano.)
Calgary: hand coffee grinders/mills
That's the one I ordered too (curve for knees). I thought it was pretty reasonable in the grand scheme of things. Thanks again for the advice.
Calgary: hand coffee grinders/mills
Thanks for the advice. It turns out ATOI now carries Peugeot hand grinders. They've got two in at the moment, but $169.95 seems kind of steep. I THINK this is what they're carrying: http://www.paulsfinest.com/Peugeot-Nostalgie-Coffee-Grinder-p-526.html
And while sweetmarias.com technically carries Zassenhaus, they don't have any in stock, and I have the impression it's not that frequent that they do.
Elysiancoffee.com out of Vancouver seems like the best bet. Five different Zassenhaus models at $109 (+$12 shipping to Calgary) each. They throw in a bag of beans too.
Calgary: hand coffee grinders/mills
Thanks for the link. Was at Kilian yesterday, and learned there are some Bodum hand grinders on order (probably a couple weeks away, though). The Zass look great. Have also seen a few random cranks at the antique stores in Inglewood.
Calgary: hand coffee grinders/mills
Where can you buy a hand crank coffee grinder in this town?
Thanks for any suggestions.
